Posted:
What would you call this action of Dashratha?
The Bali of his daughter in his desire to have a son?
The Daan given by Kaushalya to maintain the maryada of her family ?
The Balidaan down by Shanta to measure upto her fathers expectations ?
Seeing today's episode, I realised the angst of Kaushalya
I also realised why her love for Rama will always be tinged with pain
And the joy of seeing him will always also have a sense of loss
And it also became evident why knowing Rama's sensitivity and samvedansheel nature
She never wanted to tell him shanta's truth
For Rama this news that in order to have him, his sister had to be sacrificed
Was heartbreaking, but he is Rama, he doesn't react emotionally, he also does not judge his father
Harshly, rather his heart doesn't dwell on his own pain, rather on his mothers and he wants to soothe his mothers soul and mend the damaged relationship of his parents
What a contrast between Mithila and Ayodhya - in terms of the attitudes of the two kings towards their daughters
And it's true isn't it, just as raja Dashratha is known by his son Rama, so is raja Janak knows by his daughter Sita!
Sita tries her best to comfort her younger sisters and mandvi and shrutkirti deal with their grief at impending separation
Another episode that was well made and raised some more disturbing issues - that of the importance given to sons over daughters
A topic that is still very relevant and contemporary - female feoticide and skewed sex ratios being examples of the same
A must watch episode - did not know this version of the shanta story, it was upsetting and clarified Kaushalyas negativity very well.
